making lately...

 Last week I finished up a pair of large (about 3" tall) custom birdy wedding cake toppers for a wedding this Saturday.  And before that, a tiny knitted pouch for a sweet little niece of mine who recently turned 7.  Its almost coin purse-sized, but I managed to find a little tin of Hello Kitty lip gloss to tuck inside.  

While my LillyBonBon shop has been dormant all summer, I'm still trying to squeeze in some creating here and there when I have a moment.  In this busy time of life, it feels so good and calming to continue to make things with my hands when I have a chance.  So what's next?  I have soo many ideas, just need more time!

Spring dreams...

Just using the word "Spring" in my post title makes me a little happy! It has been warm and pleasant here lately and all the things that go along with Spring are surging through my head...warmer & longer days, flowers budding, grass greening up, birds chirping away, eating al fresco... The other day when it was sunny and 65 degrees out, I brought little baby bub outside and set him down on the grass for the very first time. He seemed so content, so happy, so calm and a little uncertain! He very gently pulled at the still brownish-green grass and held tightly to a rock I had given him, flipping it over and over in his hands...examining it as if he were on a new planet. I'm so excited for a whole spring (and then summer) ahead of us with new little outdoor discoveries like this with my new little explorer. Especially after being cooped up in the house during the long winter months...one can't help but be a bit antsy and excited. Yet in the meantime, I'm still conjuring up Spring inside...like this new pair of foxes I just recently completed for a wedding cake topper order. They feel very spring-like and cheerful to me. She requested teal blue and yellow details...I'm always surprised at all the different color combinations brides choose for their weddings...I don't think I've ever had the same 2 or 3 color combinations requested...the possibilities are almost infinite! Just like my dreams about a new Spring with my still-new baby...infinite possibilities!

peppermint and buttercream birds...

Some new birdies, now in the shop...
It's been awhile since I've made any bird toppers and its been fun to work with some pretty Spring colors while Winter white is all I'm seeing outside lately!

golden-eyed owls

A pair of new owls I made last week.
The bride's colors were papaya, dark blue, and hints of gold. I added some touches of gold paint to their eyes...something new, something different...and I liked it!

an unlikely match...

However unlikely it may be for a bear and a fox to really hang out together in the forest, they are finding common ground (and getting along quite nicely if I do say so myself!) on my latest wedding cake topper. It was a custom order and a bear (my first bear really!) was requested to sit alongside a bushy-tailed fox. Its always fun to try something new! And that's where those ferns ended up residing as well.

Today feels like a real January day...snowy and windy, dark and dreary...I can hear the howling, blustering wind against the house and see it swirling up drifts of snow on my neighbor's roof. And after a string of many un-January-ish days, it feels alright to me. Little baby is tucked in for a nap and I'm happily working on some new orders. All is well in this calm month.

in the studio {ferns & flowers}

Amidst much time spent loving on one sick, teething, non-napping baby, I've been trying to do some cake-toppering too. Pictured here, some hand cut paper ferns and other cake topper adornments.

finished foxes...

...just a few photos to share of my finished fox wedding cake topper. This may be my favorite fox topper yet as I liked how the colors came together, especially the buttercreamy color of the foxes.

in the studio {fox shadows}

Getting back "in the studio" again after a looong break...now with a sweet baby at my feet! Here are a couple snippets of a new wedding cake topper in the works...another foxy couple. I don't think I've lost my touch (I was a little worried)...but it feels nice to work with colors & papers & glue & wire again!
I have more ideas than I have time now, but that's okay...life moves at a different sort of speed right now and things will eventually happen when they can, so I jot them down for later. It's a good time right now, full of change & joy, baby laughter & smiles...so I want to enjoy every day, every moment with my little one!

a tiny nest, still summer...

While holding my new little baby outside last week, I noticed a tiny Chipping Sparrow building a nest within one of the little Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees we have in our landscaping right up by our house where I was sitting. The bird would work its way into the dense tree carrying one tiny twig in its beak at a time. Just yesterday I carefully pulled back some of the little branches to spy the momma bird sitting upon a tiny nest. After looking at it from another angle, carefully moving more of the pokey branches, I must have scared her off the nest for a moment...but then 3 very little pretty blue eggs were revealed. They were similar in color to Robin eggs but so much smaller.The momma bird hopped about on the ground near my feet and jumped up on our porch, never going very far from her precious little eggs. And we let her be then so she could get back on the nest. Being a new momma myself, I now fully understand not wanting to be very far from my little newborn.
This little nest made me happy too...to know that it's still summer...birds are still building nests. Because I've been in a haze of newborn-ness lately (a very good haze of course!) and I'm sure this summer will whiz by without many of the usual hallmarks of summer for me, as tending to my newborn is shifting all other priorities or things I used to do, but I'm realizing nothing is more important. And no other summer will be quite as special in this way ever again.
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P.S. On a totally different note, would you like to see a few photos of a recent lovely wedding? It just so happens to be a Minnesota wedding too. The bride ordered a LillyBonBon cake topper for her wedding cake and you'll see a photo of that as well, all right here!

a new couple...

Just a new little pair of owls I made recently for a custom order...

I never get tired of making these perky little cake topper creatures!
The sun is finally shining here again and for that I'm feeling a bit more perky now too!
Happy Wednesday! :)

sparkly red caps

Just thought I'd share a few photos of some new gnome & mushroom cake toppers I recently made for a custom order. The glitter on the caps was her idea for a wintry woodland party...and I simply love the added sparkle!
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happy weekend! :)

five isn't enough...{+ customer cake photos}

Oftentimes 5 photos per Etsy listing just isn't enough for me...I hem and haw over which photos to use, which ones show my items at their best, highlight specific things like the details on the base of a cake topper or the pattern of paper I've chosen for the base. I try to figure out which lighting is best and yet still conveys the true colors of an item. I attempt to have a good variety of close-up shots and distance shots. And then of course there are all the different angles! I like to show my work from almost every possible angle...so with all that said, usually 5 photos just isn't enough. Sometimes I see shops on Etsy that will just use one photo to show their item...oh to have the confidence to allow one picture to stand alone and represent. Nope...can't do it! So what can I do when I have more photos that I maybe wanted to use but didn't have room for? Put them here on the blog. So, I present a new pair of Sweetheart Birds!

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And if you're still with me on this rambling post, thought I'd share a couple photos a customer sent me recently of some of my cake toppers she ordered for her wedding.

She used one set of bird toppers on their wedding cake...

...and after receiving them, ordered another pair to use as a little centerpiece on their "Love is Sweet, Take a Treat" bar. (A little hard to see but they are way up there at the top of the photo, in the center.) Its always fun for me to see how they were used!

hopeful sounds...

A new birdy cake topper has landed itself on a branch in my shop. I've gradually been working on a few new things for the shop...and I think this particular bird would be lovely upon a simple white frosted cake for a special lady or birthday girl.

I've had little songbirds on the mind today ever since this morning when I heard the sweet song of one just outside my window. It was only a short song...just a long high note followed by a steady low note. But that first hopeful sound of a bird singing caught my ear and reminded me that Spring will someday arrive...eventually...even though it seems on this dreary January day to be lightyears away. Sometimes I forget how quiet nature is in the wintertime. Until I hear that first birdsong and it awakens my mind to memories of warm Spring mornings, sleeping with the windows cracked, and hearing the birds of the forest begin their sweet songs early in the morning. I can't wait for those Spring mornings!

More birds, more soon! ~L

next to you my deer {c'est fini!}

hello!

As mentioned in my last post where I was figuring out to how finish my deer topper, I wanted to share what I ended up deciding upon and how I finished it off.

I really liked the contrast of that pretty brown flower-y paper base against the seafoam color of the deer. Little white and pale pink flowers, tiny toadstools, and a few handcut paper leaves in pale pink and brown mingle at their feet. Now in the shop, here.

Today is another sunny day in a row of sunny Fall days and I'm busy working on a custom cake topper order, a sweet pair of foxes...back to work!
Happy creating! ~L